EDGEWOOD, Ky. — Kentucky students and their teachers are back in classrooms, but many of them don’t have all the supplies they’d like to have as the new school year begins.

What You Need To Know

  • Teachers often post their Amazon wish lists on social media to help ease the burden of having to pay for supplies out of their own pocket

  • Caywood Elementary School was gifted $20,000 worth of school supplies, fulfilling every single item on teachers’ Amazon wish lists

  • An additional $30,000 is being sent to the rest of the Kenton County School District for supplies

  • This is part of Amazon’s back-to-school campaign to donate more than $1 million to schools in underserved communities

Teachers often post their Amazon wish lists on social media to help ease the burden of having to pay for supplies out of their own pocket. Some in northern Kentucky had those wishes granted by the company itself in a surprise announcement.

Caywood Elementary School Principal Kim Mott learned it was happening about a week or two ago, and literally couldn’t believe it.

“I got an email. And I didn’t believe the email at first. And so I sent it to my assistant principal, and I said hey can you check this out? And I said it might be a scam,” Mott said. “And then he comes back, and he says, ‘No Kim, I think this is real.’ And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

He was not.

Mott tried to keep the secret from most of her staff until the surprise announcement on Friday that the school was being gifted $20,000 worth of school supplies, fulfilling every single item on teachers’ Amazon wish lists.

Usually they have to depend on the kind donations of friends and family when it comes to these lists, and when they don’t get everything they need, the result is sometimes tears. But these supplies came straight from Amazon itself, and the tears on display were happy tears.

“Total shock. We had no idea what was going on,” said second grade teacher Amber Hoersting. “I’m just super thankful. We’re getting lots of stuff for our students, and that’s amazing. I’m just really thankful, blessed.”

Mott said she had some happy tears as well.

“My teachers work so hard. They work day and night to get ready for the start of school. And often they do spend their own money on school supplies for their students, or just to decorate their room, or to get everything just perfect for their kids,” she said. “And so this means a lot to me. It means a lot to them.”

An additional $30,000 is being sent to the rest of the Kenton County School District for supplies.

Liz Hamedi, Assistant General Manager at the Amazon Air Hub in northern Kentucky, and daughter of a recently retired teacher, said it was special for her to see the excitement in the Caywood teachers’ eyes.

“Our teachers are really on the front lines, and they put so much hard work and dedication to making sure the classroom is perfect, also making sure their students are set up for success. So to be able to alleviate and support some of the financial burden often that comes out of their own pocket is just tremendous to be a part of today,” Hamedi said.

There’s enough stress that comes with the start of a new school year. Knowing they suddenly had everything they needed wasn’t just a relief, it was enough to make some of the teachers dance.

This is part of Amazon’s back-to-school campaign to donate more than $1 million to schools in underserved communities, benefiting nearly 30,000 kids where the company has a presence.